We report on the results of a country-wide survey of people’s perceptions of issues relating to the con-
servation of biodiversity and ecosystems in India. Our survey, mainly conducted online, yielded 572
respondents, mostly among educated, urban and sub-urban citizens interested in ecological and environ-
mental issues. 3160 ‘‘raw’’ questions generated by the survey were iteratively processed by a group of
ecologists, environmental and conservation scientists to produce the primary result of this study: a sum-
marized list of 152 priority questions for the conservation of India’s biodiversity and ecosystems, which
range across 17 broad thematic classes. Of these, three thematic classes—‘‘Policy and Governance’’,
‘‘Biodiversity and Endangered Species’’ and ‘‘Protection and Conservation’’—accounted for the largest
number of questions. A comparative analysis of the results of this study with those from similar studies
in other regions brought out interesting regional differences in the thematic classes of questions that
were emphasized and suggest that local context plays a large role in determining emergent themes.
We believe that the ready list of priority issues generated by this study can be a useful guiding framework
for conservation practitioners, researchers, citizens, policy makers and funders to focus their resources
and efforts in India’s conservation research, action and funding landscape.

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